About Etikoppaka
Etikoppaka is a village on the banks of the Varaha River in Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh, India. Etikoppaka means, a group of houses on the banks of the river.It is 65 km from Visakhapatnam. Etikoppaka has a population of around 12,000. The village economy is mostly based on farming. More than 200 artisan families live in this village.
Coming into Etikoppaka, this small village remind one of childhood days, of vivid, sparkling wooden toys and colourful objects that were the source of endless joy.
Etikoppaka is famous for its age-old tradition of wooden carvings and artefacts, especially the toys, mythological figures and carvings that are created to resemble the shapes that were excavated at the sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
The toys are usually made of wood. The wood is soft and has a fine grain. Women and children pick it up from nearby hills and leave it to dry in the courtyards. The workplace and tools are primitive. It is a wonder that with these primitive tools, objects of such skill originate here Read More...
The traditional landlords of the village, the Rajus who were permitted to settle there over 200 years ago by the Raja of Vizianagram, have been people far in advance of their time. It is through their efforts that India's first co-operative sugar mill came to be located in Etikoppaka in the early 1930s.
C. V. Raju is an agriculturist graduate and belongs to a landlord family in Etikoppaka. According to Raju and some elderly artisans, before 1910, the dyes were made from a tree called divi-divi (Caesalpinia coriaria). From this tree, the artisans could get only red colour in different shades. This tree has become locally extinct now. After 1910, synthetic dyes were introduced in the market replacing the traditional practice of using tree-based dyes. These were available in wide ranging colours. However, when they were used, it was necessary to add another chemical, Titanium dioxide (Lithopon) while mixing with lacquer 
For C.V. Raju, the migration of artisans from his native village Etikoppaka was a painful affair. And even more agonising was the very thought of an ancient art coming to a virtual extinction.
